


Birthday Bonding With the Matsuoka Women

by vodkatiia



Category: Free!
Genre: Birthday Fluff, Family Bonding, Family Fluff, Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-02
Updated: 2014-02-02
Packaged: 2018-01-09 02:07:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1140180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vodkatiia/pseuds/vodkatiia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His mother and sister had been planning this day for <i>months</i> now, obsessing over every little detail until they were sure it would be the best birthday Rin had ever had; it <i>was</i> his 18th, after all. And although Rin acts like he's annoyed with the whole concept of being doted upon on his birthday—"I'm not so special that you need to do anything <i>extravagant</i> for me, mom."—he's actually very excited on the inside. This <i>would</i> be the first time in a while that he'd be able to spend a whole day with just his family, and he's greatly anticipating (and also somewhat dreading) what they have in store for him on his special day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birthday Bonding With the Matsuoka Women

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lakambini](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lakambini/gifts).



> Writing this was certainly a hard thing to do for me; I felt _very_ out of my comfort zone, and I'm sure that reflects somewhat in my writing. Also, it may seem a bit rushed, because I was stuck in the hospital for a while, and thus, didn't have much time to focus on writing. 
> 
> This was my first time writing Rin's character, so I'm sure that there are a lot of mistakes, and awkward lines said by him, but I tried my hardest, and I hope you enjoy this, anyway!

"Do you think he's even up yet, Gou?" the woman asked as she stared up at the building looming in front of her. There was a nervous expression on her face as she did so, and she tried not to think _too much_ about if her son was any more of a morning person than he was a few years ago. She liked to assume—since she hadn't gotten any calls from the school & (yet) about a red-headed teenage boy biting the heads off of unsuspecting passersby and his swim team—that he had, in fact, gotten over his "moods", as she liked to call them since being away from home for quite some time. Age, distance, and a change of scenery could do a lot to a person; as he'd proven many a time in the past.

"Don't worry, mom," Gou answered, deciding not to correct her on the improper pronunciation of her name. "If he's not up now, he will be soon." She smiled mischievously at that and took out her phone. The night before, she had texted Nagisa—who was hanging out with Rin and the others at the time—asking him to "please change Rin's text-tone to something _extra_ loud when he's not looking!"  
Of course, being the act-first-ask-questions-later person he is, Nagisa had complied almost instantaneously.

Giving her daughter a wary look, but otherwise not commenting, Miss Matsuoka bit her bottom lip and awaited the storm that was sure to come.

**_To: Big Brother_ **  
**_We're here to pick you up! Time to get your sleepy butt out of bed!_ **  


There was a few minute's wait in between the time that Gou sent the text and when she received a reply, in which both women could have _sworn_ that they heard loud yelling and curses coming from a few floors up.

**_From: Big Brother_ **  
**_What the hell Gou? Why are you here so early? I thought you weren't coming till later!_ **  


**_To: Big Brother_ **  
**_I told you to be ready whenever :P_ **  


There was another waiting period after that text; this time, a bit longer than the first wait, and Gou wondered if she had made him angry.  
She was just about to go up and get him herself when her cellphone vibrated in her hand.  


**_From: Big Brother_ **  
**_Tell mom to wait in the car... I'll be down in a bit._ **  


Typing out a quick, excited response, Gou smiled at her mom and nodded. Smiling back, Miss Matsuoka sighed in relief, then followed Gou back to the car to wait on Rin.

* * *

It took about a half hour for Rin to get up, take a shower, get dressed, and then escape Ai, before he could even get to the stairs. He swore that he could still hear the boy yelling for him to "have a good birthday with your family!" as he left the building.

As soon as the doors closed behind him, he let out a sigh of relief. A cool breeze washed over his face and he shivered a bit, pulling his jacket closer to his body. _Should've known it was gonna be cold out here,_ he thought as walked along the pavement; it _was_ only early February, so it was only natural for the weather to still be somewhat frigid. Still, though, this wasn't the type of weather that he liked, and he showed his distaste in the expression on his face.

Nearing the back parking lot where he assumed Gou and his mother would be, Rin couldn't help but to smile a bit at the thought of seeing them again—for more than just a few minutes this time. The two women had spent _months_ planning a special outing for him on his birthday, and although Rin didn't like to admit it out loud (except maybe to Ai, only because that boy could read him like an open book), he had actually been pretty excited about this day for a while, too. Even though he never really enjoyed celebrating his birthday, and tried to avoid it like one avoided the plague, this year, he felt like he should at least _try_ ; especially since there was so much preparation and love put into it, _and_ because it would be his first birthday as an adult.  
He knew that this particular piece of information must have been weighing on his mother's mind for a while and, if he was being perfectly honest with himself, it was weighing down on him too in his own way; he guessed that's why they were all fussing over it so much.

In fact, just a few days ago, Rin got a call from his mother—her asking if he was _completely sure_ that he wanted to this, because she didn't want to force him into anything. He had curtly replied that, yes, he was sure he wanted to do this, and his mother had heaved a sigh of relief and told him that she was happy.  
It completely caught Rin off guard when she started to cry.

"Mom?" he had asked, his tone of voice going from that of being exasperated to one of concern in a mere matter of seconds. "Mom, what's wrong?" A few sniffles from her end made him freeze in place. _Shit,_ he had thought, I made her sad. _Good job, Rin, that's all you're good for, isn't it?_

"It's alright." The reply came a bit delayed, but when it did finally come, it sounded sincere, and RIn calmed down a bit, although he could still hear his mother crying on the other end of the line. "I'm fine, really."

With a quirk of his eyebrows, Rin had frowned and made a displeased noise. "Really mom? Then why are you crying?" It wasn't often that his mother cried when she was on the phone with Rin—only when he had first left for Australia, and again when he came back. Hearing her cry now was a shock to him, really; he didn't know how to feel about this, no matter if this crying spell was a positive or negative one.

Hearing a shaky breath being released from the other end, Rin knew his mother was trying to piece together her words before she spoke again.  
"You know, Rin," she began again, and this time her voice was a bit stronger, "I really am very proud of you."  
Her words had caught Rin off guard, and he remained silent, which only prompted his mother to continue talking.  
"You're becoming such a strong, confident young man and-" She paused there, and another shaky breath was released.

 _She's told me all this before, so why is she crying now?_ Rin had thought within the conversation break.

"And," she started again, and Rin held his breath; he didn't know why he did that, but he felt like he needed to brace himself for what she was going to tell him next. "You just remind me _so much_ of your father."

In that moment, Rin had felt two things:  
The first being that he felt the breath being completely knocked out of his lungs.  
And the second being the plethora of confusing emotions coursing through his very being.  
He didn't know how to respond—he didn't know if he _should_ respond; he simply stood there, stark still in his dorm room, with his phone pressed to his ear, and his breaths coming out jagged. 

If he hadn't have been so focused on the intense bout of feelings raging on inside of him, he would have noticed that he was crying.  
Instead, his mother noticed for him.

The rest of their conversation consisted of talking about many things: the past—the things that they used to do together, the times spent as a family (when Rin's father was still alive) and all the memories. The present—how much Rin and Gou had changed over the years, how happy they were with their lives now. The future—Rin's plans for after-high school, if he planned on pursuing new dreams, new ideas, new people. There were many tears shed, both happy and sad, but by the end of the phone call, both of them were happy as could be, because they knew that in that moment, they understood each other.

"Big brother!!" A girl's voice calling out to him broke Rin out of his thoughts, and he looked up to lock eyes with his sister. The grin on her face was so big, so happy to see him, that Rin couldn't help but to break out into a smile of his own, and he waved at her.  
Although he didn't wave _enthusiastically_ at her, the action was so foreign to the girl, that she couldn't help but to blush. Normally, she'd have to absolutely pry a reaction out of her brother and, although she _sometimes_ found his stubborn nature cute, it was mostly a pain; she wondered what brought about this change of heart today. Maybe it was just the fact that it was his birthday.

When he made it to the car, he paused in front of the front passenger side's door and leaned over to look inside at his mom; just as he thought, she was smiling warmly at him, a few fresh tears in her eyes; they didn't hold any sadness in them, though—only love and admiration...and maybe a little bit of respect.

Opening the door, Rin got in the car and said his quick hellos before the trio was off and on their way. Rin didn't know exactly where they were headed, since Gou had _refused_ to tell him anything; but, just for today, he would let go of the finer details and just relax.  
It was what his father would do, and it was what his mother would want _him_ to do.  
And if there was one thing that Rin learned about himself this year, it was that he wanted to make his family proud.

This birthday, Rin would turn over a new leaf.


End file.
